Patna: The 32nd All IndiaPostal Badminton Tournament will kick-start on Monday and it will run till February 23.
The tournament is being held after a gap of more than a decade - the last postal badminton tournament was held in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi.
During the four-day tournament which is being held at the Patliputra Sports Complex, 141 players from 18 state teams are participating.
M.E Haque, the chief postmaster general, said: "The tournament is being held in Patna after a gap of nearly a decade.
The matches will be held in various categories - men's single and doubles, women's single and doubles, mixed doubles, veteran single and double, and team events.
Haque said: "The tournament will be inaugurated by the Patna University vice-chancellor, Rash Bihari Prasad Singh, and the managing director of Bihar Communication, Girish Chandra Srivastva."
Anil Kumar, the postmaster general (eastern zone), said: "Badminton is the second-most popular game played in India after cricket. The craze and popularity of badminton is growing day by day. The game's popularity has also gone up after the performance of star players such as Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu."
Nehwal, the former World No. 1 has won over 23 international titles, which include 10 Super Series titles. P.V. Sindhu, a professional badminton player and ranked number 3 in the Badminton World Federation ranking became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Anil said: "The postal department always promotes sports activities and in this connection the postal department is organising the badminton tourney."
Many national players, including R Leelalaxmi and Abhinav Prakash will be participating in the badminton tourney. The winners in the tournament will get trophies while for individual player performance there will be medals.
The players' accommodation will be made at the sports hostel at the Patliputra Sports Complex.
As players from different states are participating in the tournament, the postal department has made special food arrangement having north and south Indian dishes.
